Author
Topic: North SF Bay devastating fires (Read 3842 times)

Horrendous fires erupted overnight in a number of North SF Bay towns and communities. Entire communities evacuated, countless homes and other structures burned to the ground. High winds and low humidity combined to create a fire storm. Emergency services focused on saving lives, not structures. Deployment of air resources (water and fire retardant tankers) delayed due to low visibility from all the smoke.

A couple of hospitals and a couple of hotels, in addition to strip malls and large retail stores were lost. Also, the prestigious Silverado golf resort was torched. Localized fires still burning, not helped by gas spewing from gas lines. Haven't heard about fires at the 300 or so wineries/vinyards in the Napa Valley. They expect fire fighting resources from all over California to converge by this evening.

Haven't heard from friends in the area. Not surprising because cell service has been seriously disrupted.

4 wildfires currently burning, with 0% containment. 1500 (min) homes burned. 10 people died, and many folks injured. Expect these numbers to rise.

Edit: Authorities still searching for folks who weren't able to evacuate.

Looting is going on, and police/CHP and Sheriff's department are arresting them.

Unbelievable and horrendous! We lived in Petaluma and then Sebastopol from 1976 to 1989. I can never remember a horrible conflagaration such as this. My nephew (San Jose FD) and my niece-in-law (SFFD) were close to evacuation this morning but wind change save their house in the Monticito area --- for now. Her parents are being evacuated right now from an area between Santa Rosa and Sonoma Valley. 50 mph winds have spread or are spreading embers from Sebastopol area to the Napa Valley Wine Country. Just horrible! 1500 homes burned so far and many business also.

These are times when I wish we had concrete (or terra cotta) tiles on the roof, as we had at our prior home. When we re-roofed here, the structure wasn't sufficient to take concrete tiles, so we went with a "fire resistant" composite tile.

Every July 4th I cringe when folks (illegally) set off fireworks in our community. Two years ago, the whole neighborhood heard me bellowing from our rear deck "fireworks are illegal and, unless you shut it down, I'll call the Sheriff". (I have a very loud voice and, on the rare occasions I 'bellow', everyone hears.) The nearby fireworks ceased. Celebrating the holiday is one thing, but risking a fire in our community is another.

Me, too, Tom. Sonoma and Napa Counties are such a combination of small urban cities surrounded by wild, rural country. Throw in the foothills and mountainous areas and it puts a real strain on firefighting efforts when these strong winds blow. Wineries have been lost, two hospitals have been evacuated, care homes have been evacuated. Santa Rosa Hilton burned to the ground, KMart burned, a McDonalds and an Applebee's burned. The final toll when this is over will be devastating.

I'm very familiar with that area, 30 years ago I worked in Santa Rosa and lived in a mobile home about 5 miles north of the devastation in Windsor.

San Francisco television stations have had nonstop coverage all day. I'm in Pahrump and have been watching them online via the Mobley.

In area, these fires are more than 30 times larger than the size of the fire that devastated the Oakland hills and came down into Oakland and Berkeley in 1991, although so far only about half as many structures have burned.

BTW, there are a few vineyards in the area that have been converted to cannabis, but the biggest loser is this year's grape harvest, especially in the Napa valley. Several premium vineyards have burned, the harvest was just starting in the rest so there are a lot of grapes still on the vine that have likely suffered smoke damage.

There were 14 fires that started Sunday night stretching from the Redwood Valley north of Ukiah down through the hills surrounding the Sonoma and Napa valleys. Hwy 37 along the north edge of San Francisco Bay is currently closed because of a fire burning in the hills behind Sears Point Raceway.

All of northern California is called the Emerald Triangle because of the massive quantities of pot grown up there. All the way from Monterey to Canada actually.

According to this Wikipedia article, the Emerald Triangle comprises Mendocino County, Humboldt County and Trinity County. Nowt to do with the North Bay counties affected by these fires. As Margi suggests, it looks like you might need to check some facts

I used to live on St Helena Rd in N Santa Rosa (my favorite place ever!). Where are the fires?

The Tubbs fire started near Calistoga around 10 PM Sunday night, then winds gusting to 50 - 80 mph blew it southwest into Santa Rosa through the hills around Mark Springs Rd. Before dawn it blew through the Fountaingrove area, then jumped Hwy 101 and burned a couple of shopping centers and devistated the Coffey Park area on the northwest side of town.

As of right now, the northern half of Santa Rosa is under mandatory evacuation and dusk to dawn curfews:

Are you kidding me? All of northern California is called the Emerald Triangle because of the massive quantities of pot grown up there. All the way from Monterey to Canada actually. It is just that it is grown in secret and you can't see it. But it is there. Trust me.

Well, I wouldn't know about that, Tom, but I'm sure you're an expert, so I'll bow to your knowledge. There are also multitudes of hard working, upstanding citizens living in that area who are losing their homes by the thousands. And all you can focus on is pot? Forgive me if my focus and caring are elsewhere at this time.

No ... you lighten up. When crises of this magnitude are happening, cheap jokes are just that. Cheap. Someone of your sensibility who has the artistry to take such expressive pictures needn't take refuge in cheap jokes. Sorry to be so emotional myself, but I spent many, many years in this area. My husband and I raised our children here and to see it so devastated hurts more than I can even describe.

Here is a video of a typical NorCal greenhouse, of which there are thousands in the forests.

What part of "in the forests" do you not get? This has nothing to do with the area currently undergoing this devastating fire! I'm getting so sick and tired of all of California being colored unnecessarily by the same crayon.

I spent many, many years in this area. My husband and I raised our children here and to see it so devastated hurts more than I can even describe.

Yup. Born and raised in CA. I used to fly into Santa Rosa from Boonville when I was a Private Pilot. My girls were born in Santa Rosa just outside the evacuation zone. This is personal for many of us. This thread was started by our Admin to discuss a specific issue. Let my post be the last one mentioning anything other than the original intent.

Was just reading Press Democrat; both the Fountaingrove Inn and round barn were destroyed. Almost certainly all of the redwoods lining 101, planted probably 75+ years ago, are gone as well. The hospital where my daughters were born (Kaiser) has been evacuated and partially damaged. We were living there when that hospital was built